SHARE

Body in river a crime scene

Grand Junction police blocked the Colorado Riverfront Trail under the Fifth Street bridge Wednesday after a passerby saw a body in the Colorado River around 5:30 p.m

By {screen_name}
Thursday, August 12, 2010

A passerby Wednesday evening discovered a body in the Colorado River south of downtown Grand Junction in a scene police are calling “suspicious.”

Grand Junction Police Department spokeswoman Kate Porras said the passerby spotted the body around 5:30 p.m. while walking in the area. Police didn’t know whether the body was that of a male or female.

Porras said police aren’t sure what happened or even that a crime had been committed but called the scene around the body “suspicious” because of the position of the body and items found around the body. She declined to elaborate.

Porras said the first officers on scene backed out of the area where the body was found to avoid contaminating the scene and called in detectives and crime-scene technicians. A representative with the Mesa County Coroner’s Office also responded.

Initial reports indicated the passerby may have pulled the body out of the river, although Porras said police hadn’t confirmed that. She said officers plan to interview the passerby.

Four Grand Junction police patrol cars went to the area and officers closed off the Colorado Riverfront Trail underneath the bridge and surrounding area with yellow crime-scene tape.